Migrants

Germany is ready to take in a quarter of migrants who reach Italy by sea, Interior Minister Horst Seehofer said in remarks published on Friday, ahead of EU talks on immigration later this month. EU interior ministers will meet in Malta on 23 September in a new attempt to find a temporary solution on sharing out the care for migrants who reach the bloc’s shores.

Hundreds of migrants arrived on the eastern Aegean island of Lesvos over the weekend and in the early hours of Monday, official figures showed. A total of 227 migrants landed on the island between midnight on Sunday and 9.30 a.m. on Monday, according to the police, with another 228 reaching Lesvos from neighboring Turkey on Saturday and Sunday.

Migrants rescued by charity rescue ship Ocean Viking were brought to Malta late on Friday night after an EU-brokered deal allowed their relocation to six member states, news wires reported. The 356 people rescued by the crew of the Norwegian-flagged rescue vessel were transferred to a Maltese Armed Forces patrol boat in the afternoon and reached shore late at night.

Eighty-three migrants who disembarked on Italy's Lampedusa island were again in limbo on Wednesday as a European deal to redistribute them failed to materialise and Madrid said it could hit the Spanish charity with a hefty fine for rescuing them, AFP reports.

Six EU countries have agreed to take in some of the 147 migrants stranded on a rescue ship near the Italian island of Lampedusa, Rome announced Thursday, amid a war of words between Italy's interior minister and the premier over immigration policy.

France has initiated discreet talks with the European Commission to find a solution for the rescue ship Open Arms, El Pais reported on Wednesday. The Interior ministry in Paris confirmed contact with Brussels to find safe port for Spanish ship with 151 aboard that has spent 13 days out at sea after being denied entry by nearby countries Italy and Malta. European Commission sources admitted on Tuesday that it is in touch with several member states in a bid to end the crisis.

French charities SOS Mediterranean and MSF rescued another 81 migrants off the coast of Libya on Sunday, who joined 130 others aboard the ship the Ocean Viking, an AFP reporter said. The ship has been patrolling international waters some 50 nautical miles off the coast of Tripoli. About two-thirds of migrants aboard are Sudanese.

In an open letter on 8 August, EP President David Sassoli urged the European Commission President Jean-Claude Junker to find a solution for 121 migrants stranded between Malta and Italy, after being denied entry in Malta. Urgent assistance and fair distribution of the migrants is needed, Sassoli insists.

Italy's hardline interior minister Matteo Salvini allowed 116 rescued migrants on Italian Gregoretti coastguard ship to disembark on Wednesday after five EU countries agreed to share responsibility with Rome for looking after them. France, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg and Portugal have agreed to join the Italian Roman Catholic church in caring for the migrants, an European Commission spokeswoman told AFP. The Commission did not give a breakdown on how the migrants would be shared out between the host countries but the official said most would stay in Italy.